Pipeline Connects PAA Students To Community Needs

Over a dozen Portland Adventist Academy students participated in Pipeline, an urban mission outreach organized by Cory Wetterlin, Pleasant Valley Church youth pastor. It was designed to focus on Portland, Ore., one of the nation's most secular communities.

Mission activities included a wide range of options. Students packaged food at the Oregon Food Bank, fed the homeless, created memory books of a senior citizen's life, painted a school and served food at the Portland Rescue Mission. Through the process, students met people who needed a helping hand, a listening ear and, most importantly, love.

This year's Pipeline theme, Greater Things, was borrowed from John 14 where Jesus comforts the apostles and tells them "they will do greater things" John 14:12. Wetterlin wanted to emphasize this to the students. "Christ's ministry was three short years," says Wetterlin. "Imagine what we can do through Christ in a lifetime of service."

The week was filled with opportunities to teach the lesson. "The kids worked with a man recovering at a rehab center," says Wetterlin. "He had been a pastor for 16 years before his life unexpectedly fell apart. Within a short time the man was homeless and addicted to drugs. One night he was dying, and paramedics managed to revive him. Now he's a changed person ministering to the other rehab patients. They actually call him pastor."

The students concluded their week with an Agape Feast at Pleasant Valley Church. There, they performed a drama skit for their church family. "That was probably my favorite part of the whole week," says PAA student Josh Linfoot.